


Legend Has It

by sheryl_sems



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Power Rangers Fusion, Bellarke, Power Rangers - Freeform, Romance, Team as Family, the 100 au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-11-16 01:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11243949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheryl_sems/pseuds/sheryl_sems
Summary: Clarke Griffin leads a very normal, if lonely, life in the town of Arkadia. But when she agrees to help a new friend out on a quiet Saturday night, she and four others are caught in a small explosion deep in the heart of an old gold mine. When they wake up, they find themselves safe at home but in possession of five coloured stones that they can't seem to get rid of and a whole new set of extraordinary abilities. As they learn about their destinies, powers and an alien threat that is about to obliterate the entire world, they find that their quiet lives will never be the same again.Or: the Power Rangers AU that nobody asked for!





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So here is my Power Rangers AU- The 100 version! I watched PR a couple of nights ago and I loved the diversity and disabilities/sexualities thrown in and obviously my mind immediately went- this needs to happen in the 100/Bellarke AU world so here we are :') Hope you like it and don't forget to hit kudos/comments if you think it has potential! xx

Clarke stares out of the window, her arms crossed over her chest, and she can feel the tension thick in the air of the car. She knows that her mother's grip on the steering wheel is tight and her jaw is tense. Clarke can see the gates of her university looming up ahead and she feels the weight on her chest grow heavier.   
  
  
"I know it's not ideal, but maybe you'll make a few friends here," Her mother says and Clarke clenches her teeth together. "I'm sorry you have to do this but it was the only way I could prevent you from getting expelled."  
  
  
"Maybe that's what I wanted," Clarke says as they drive through the gates and enter the driveway leading up to the front doors of the university building.   
  
  
Her mother sighs heavily. "Don't be difficult, Clarke. I know losing Wells was-"  
  
  
"Don't," Clarke spits out harshly, her head whipping to the side to look at her mother. "You weren't there for me then so don't pretend to understand what losing him was like." The car stops in front of the doors.  
  
  
"I know I wasn't there for you then and I am truly sorry, but I'm here now," Abby says, reaching out.  
  
  
" _Now_ is two months too late," Clarke says and Abby's hand pauses mid-action for a moment before returning to her side. She can see the hurt in her mother's eyes and she hopes her mother can see it in her's.   
  
  
Abby nods, pursing her lips and taking a deep breath, before saying, "Okay. I'll have Jackson pick you up. If you need anything else-"  
  
  
"I won't," Clarke says, grabbing her bag and getting out of the car. She shuts the door behind her and walks up the stairs without looking back. As she pushes the front doors open, she hears her mother drive away. She takes a moment to swallow hard and squeeze her eyes shut tightly before forcing her feet forward and to the classroom assigned for weekend detention.   
  
  
When she enters, the room is already abuzz with a dozen people. She recognises most of them from her classes but there are a couple of juniors she's not crossed paths with yet. She's debating where to sit when a familiar loud voice draws her attention to the opposite end of the class.   
  
  
"Pity you didn't get expelled, Blake. Not like anyone would have cared much." Dax is hovering above a young girl with straight black hair. She's got equally dark eyes and is dressed in black skinny-jeans and a yellow bomber jacket thrown over a black t-shirt. "I hear your brother begged for you to not get chucked out. It's all you both have ever done, isn't it? Begged?" Clarke can see the girl's sharp jaw tense, her fists clenching in her lap as she stares resolutely ahead. "Sucks that you can't fight back this time, doesn't it, Blake? God knows your brother won't be able to beg his way out of the next expulsion- maybe you could try and sleep your way through-"  
  
  
Clarke's legs have carried her across the class before she can even consider what she's doing and suddenly she's shoving him hard. "Why don't you mind your own business, Dax?"   
  
  
He bares his teeth and takes a step forward towards her. "I could ask you the same question, Griffin." He raises a hand to push at her shoulder and she grasps his wrist and twists.  
  
  
"Don't you dare," She spits, shoving his hand away after seeing his satisfactory flinch. "I have a get-out-of-jail card if I screw up again. You, on the other hand, do not. So why don't you stay the hell away from her and me," Clarke nods in the black-haired girl's direction, "-and we won't have a problem." She knows that everyone is aware of the fact that her mother is the town mayor. She's had it thrown in her face too often so she figures _why not use it to my advantage?_  
  
Dax scowls and walks away from them and she ignores the fact that everybody in the room is staring at her and drops her bag onto the table nearest to her, which happens to be beside the other girl.   
  
  
"You- you didn't have to do that," The girl says, the corners of her lips tilted downwards a bit.   
  
  
"I hate people like him," Clarke shrugs, taking her notebook and pen out of her bag.   
  
  
She can feel the girl staring at her and sees her nod out of the corner of her eye. "Thanks, anyway. I'm Octavia." She turns to see the girl- Octavia- holding her hand out.   
  
  
Clarke shakes it. "Clarke."   
  
  
Octavia's lips quirk upwards. "I know who you are." Clarke sighs and releases her hand, turning to flip her notebook open. "The whispers in the corridor never specified how badass you were, though." Clarke pauses before looking at Octavia, who's smiling. She nods her head with a small smile, feeling a mix of relief and gratefulness, before turning back to her book to start on her essay assignment until the detention supervisor arrives.  
  
  
The next two hours pass slowly and Clarke is left counting down almost every minute of the final hour. They're asked to do assignments and tasks around the building that Clarke is sure will prove meaningless in the grand scheme of things after university and she wants to break something at the thought of being here every Sunday for the next six weeks.   
  
  
When it's time to leave, she slips on her backpack and leaves the room quickly, nodding goodbye to a person or two that she passes. When she leaves the university building, she sees that one of her mother's secretaries, Jackson, has been tasked with driving her home and is waiting in their red Citroen mini-van near the front stairs. Her eyes travel behind their car to a faded-orange Ford ranger in which a young boy, few years older to her, sits at the wheel. He has black curly hair and dark eyes that seem to be trained on the building doors. Someone brushes past her and he seems to perk up a bit and she looks to her right to see Octavia running down the stairs and towards the car. The boy inside waves at her and she opens the truck door and hoists herself inside. When she sits down, Clarke sees that she is smiling and now so is the boy. When she looks back at Octavia, the other girl catches her eye and waves, still smiling. Clarke gives her a small wave as they drive away. She drops her hand and is about to head towards her own car when somebody catches her elbow.  
  
  
"Clarke, hey!"   
  
  
She turns around to see that it is a Chinese boy she recognises from her Chemistry class. "Hi. Monty right?"   
  
  
He looks a bit surprised that she knows his name but smiles nonetheless. "Yeah! Uh- this is a weird question, but that's yours right?" He's nodding at her red van and she nods. "Can you drive?" She nods again. "I want to make you a deal." He waits for her to say something but she just raises her eyebrows in question. "I can't drive and my mum would never take me so I need a ride to somewhere tonight, at around 7pm. If you can do me this solid one, in return I'll plant a few surprises, of the slightly dangerous scientific kind, in Jason and Riley's lockers this week."  
  
  
"Why would I care about that?" She asks but her stomach clenches angrily at the sound of the two boys' names.  
  
  
Any traces of smiles are gone from Monty's face when he says, "Wells was my friend too."  
  
  
Clarke stares at him for a second as his words sink in. Finally she says, "If Wells meant that much to you, you'd do what you have planned with or without the ride."  
  
  
Monty nods his head firmly. "I will. But a ride would be ideal- and maybe a new friend too." She isn't sure why everybody around her is suddenly pushing for _new friends_ but for once, she wants to consider it. Before she can respond, Monty reaches over and plucks her phone out of her hand. When he swipes to unlock it, it requires a passcode and he turns the phone to face her with a sheepish expression. She plugs in her password and he smiles in thanks before tapping away at her phone. When he passes it back, she's seen that he has added a number under the new contact 'Monty Green'.  
  
  
"If 7pm comes around and you decide you're up for it, drop me a text?" He says.  
  
  
She nods shortly and he grins at her and waves before shoving his hands into his coat pockets and walking down the stairs away from her. She pockets her phone and goes over to her car, where Jackson grins at her and reaches across the passenger seat to open the door for her.   
  
  
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was it?" He asks as she sits down and slips on her seatbelt.   
  
  
She breathes out a laugh, always pleasantly surprised at how easy and comfortable it is to talk to her mother's assistant. "Pretty awful." He smiles sympathetically at her before pulling out of the driveway. She's known him for two years now and he comes around for dinner at their house often enough, being not just his mother's secretary but also her friend. He's kind, funny and comfortable to be around and while she's glad for these things, it also makes the weight on her chest feel a little heavier at the thought that she is closer to him than she is to her own mother. When she returns home, the empty house and dinner-for-one sitting on the dining table make her think about the new contact number saved on her phone.   
  
  
At 6:57pm, she sends Monty Green a message.  
  
  
' _Hey, it's Clarke. You still need a ride?'_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this one! It's quite short as well but the next one is significantly longer and will be up within the next few days. Hope you like it and as usual, leave a bookmark/kudos/comment if you think it's worth your time :) Much love x

  
"It says _no entry_ ," Clarke says, slowing her car down just outside the old mine's wire gates.  
  
  
"They don't mean it." Monty says, waving in dismissal and gesturing for her to keep driving. Clarke sighs and drives through the open gates, keeping her slow pace until he asks her to pull up on one side. She gets out of the car after him and helps him unload a metal box from the boot. He gestures for her to help him carry it and they begin walking deeper into the area, the box between them.  
  
  
"Where are we going and what is in the box?" Clarke asks, feeling her arms growing tired.   
  
  
"We are going to a particular part in the mines where my friend Jasper and I have spent a lot of the last month in. Legend has it that in the walls of the mine are valuable stones. Jasper and I were working on getting to the stones but then his parents got transferred to the next town and we never got to finish our project."  
  
  
"And what's in the box?" Clarke repeats.  
  
  
"Someexplosives." Monty rushes out, looking away from her with a slight cringe.  
  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
  
"Some explosives." He mumbles, slightly slower. Clarke immediately drops her side of the box and it hits the ground with a thump.   
  
  
"I am not being part of some science experiment where you blow up a part of an old mine, Monty."  
  
  
"It's not dangerous!" Monty says but looks a bit unsure himself and she sighs, a bit frustrated.  
  
  
"Look, I got you till here. This is as far as I go- you're on your own now. See you on Monday." She says and she feels a little bit guilty about leaving him there but he's about to _explode a damn rock wall_  and she wants no part of it so she turns around and begins her trek back to her car.   
  
  
She's passing by a a section of the land upon which trees have grown high and beyond that is a cliff and a distance away the ledge of the opposite cliff leading to another deserted area of rocks and shrubs. She pauses when she hears voices and despite her instincts telling her to _go home_ , she finds herself walking towards the voices. It becomes clearer that it is a woman and a man and then once she is close enough, she recognises the woman's voice. Octavia. Shielding herself behind a tree, she sees that she is seated with the unfamiliar boy from earlier. They're sitting in a clearing amongst the trees, leaning back and staring up at the stars as they talk.  
  
  
Clarke takes a step away from them, intent on going home, but her heel comes down on a stick and snaps it into two. She freezes as the sound echoes all around her and suddenly there is silence.   
  
  
"Clarke? Is that you?" _Shit._ Clarke turns around, steeling herself, to find Octavia is sitting up straight looking at her curiously, while the other boy is staring suspiciously.   
  
  
"Yeah, hi, sorry, I didn't-" Clarke struggles to form a coherent sentence because _how would she explain this?_  
  
  
"Did you- follow us here?" Octavia asks slowly.  
  
  
"No, I swear. I came here with Monty." Clarke says, pushing her hands into her jacket pockets.  
  
  
"Monty from detention?" Octavia asks.  
  
  
"Yeah, he had some science experiment to try out and dragged me along." Clarke shrugs a shoulder lightly.  
  
  
"Sounds like him." Octavia laughs.   
  
  
Clarke is suddenly very aware that this is a restricted-access area. "Should you be here?" She asks carefully.  
  
  
"You going to call security on us?" The boy says. His voice is deep and his eyes are staring at her with judgement.   
  
  
"What? No." Clarke shakes her head.  
  
  
He scoffs. "Please, I know your type."   
  
  
"Excuse me? My type?" She narrows her eyes at him and crosses her arms over her chest defensively.  
  
  
"Yeah. Your type. Rich and privileged people who get off on screwing the ones who can't afford a lifestyle like yours." He says, looking her up and down with what Clarke can only classify as hate.  
  
  
"Bell, shut up." Octavia says, glaring at the boy. She turns to Clarke. "Ignore him."  
  
  
Clarke, however, finds that she can't.   
  
  
"You know nothing about me." She says, her teeth gritting together.  
  
  
"Trust me, I do, princess." He says, smirking at her in a knowing manner.  
  
  
She's about to open her mouth to respond to Octavia's friend when the sound of an explosion has them all ducking instinctively. Clarke is crouched over with her hands over her ringing ears and the moment she gathers her bearings, she stands upright and whispers, "Monty!" She spins around and begins running over to where she had left him last. She can hear footfalls behind her, followed by a rough, "Octavia!" and then more heavier footsteps.   
  
  
She runs in the direction she thinks Monty went after she left him and finds him further and deeper inside the mines. He's on the floor, on his back, clutching his hand. She hurries over to him and Octavia is right behind her and they help Monty sit up carefully.  
  
  
"Are you okay?" Octavia asks. Monty nods, lifting a hand up to touch the back of his head. He winces and Clarke cranes her neck to look to see if there's blood. Luckily, there isn't. "What happened?" He's about to respond when a voice cuts through.   
  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" All their heads snap to their left, where a young girl is standing. She has dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail that brushes the whole length of her back. She's dressed in a orange t-shirt, black jacket and jeans and has a pair of grey sneakers on. Around her left leg sits a black brace.   
  
  
"Who's asking?" Monty responds, getting to his feet. Octavia and Clarke help him stand and once he's stable and brushing himself down, they let go and exchange a wary glance.   
  
  
"I asked first." The girl says, coming closer to them and raising an eyebrow. She's got dark skin and her face has smudges of dirt across her forehead as if she had swiped her face with a dirty hand. Taking in her dishevelled appearance, Clarke thinks, she probably had.   
  
  
"My friend and I have been coming around here every day for the past month trying to find some valuable rocks that rumour has is hidden down here." Monty responds.  
  
  
"I've been coming here every day for the past _six months_ to test these rocks." The girl says.   
  
  
"You some crazy scientist girl?" Monty asks, looking a little bit impressed.  
  
  
"Crazy engineer girl, more like." She responds, grinning proudly.   
  
  
"Uh- guys?" Clarks turns away from the exchange towards Octavia, who has just spoken. She's staring at the newly exposed wall in front of her and they all stare through the dust until they notice what she did. Five coloured stones sit embedded in the wall at their eye-level.   
  
  
Octavia looks around on the ground before swooping down and picking something out of Monty's metal box. When she raises it, poised to strike, Clarke sees that it's a hammer. She's not the only one who notices.  
  
  
"Octavia, no!" Bellamy yells while Raven screams, "We have to test it first!" But they're too late and all their eyes are wide as the hammer strikes the wall between the leftmost stones. The rock around them splits and the two stones fall out and onto the ground. Monty and Raven rush forward to find them and pick them up.   
  
  
"What the bloody hell." Monty whispers, flattening his palm with the stone in it. It's blue in colour but not just that- it's _glowing._ Raven holds out her stone beside his and they see that despite it being black, it seems to be glowing too.   
  
  
"Octavia, let's go." Octavia's friend says, speaking for the first time since their argument. Clarke hates to admit it, but she feels as wary about the situation as he looks.   
  
  
Octavia clearly ignores him and strikes the rock again, displacing a third stone and sending it flying past her. She turns to see that the boy has caught it and is presenting it on his palm. It's pink and glows the same way.  
  
  
Octavia is grinning excitedly as she hits the wall a final time and the last two stones fall out. Octavia picks one up, the yellow one, and Clarke sees that the last one- a bright red- is lying at her feet. She bends down to pick it up.  
  
  
"What are they?" Clarke asks, coming to stand in the circle the five of them have formed. They're holding the glowing stones together and the sight is mesmerising.   
  
  
"I knew it," The brown-haired girl breathes, a smile gracing her features. They're all about to ask her what she means when they're all thrown off balance by the floor beneath them and the walls around them shaking. The boy grabs onto Octavia's arm and suddenly they're all exchanging wide-eyed stares.  
  
  
"We need to get out!" Monty says urgently and then they're all moving at the same time. Clarke, Monty, Octavia and her friend stop halfway through when they realise that the third girl has lagged behind them significantly, her brace slowing her down. They look at each other for a moment before turning and running back towards her. Clarke and Octavia's friend have just slipped their arms around the girls' back when the ceiling gives a loud rumble and before they have a chance to do or say anything, it is collapsing above them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exciting long(er) chapter update! Hope you enjoy! Big big hug and thank you to all those who read the last two, and a bigger hug to those who hit kudos/bookmark and left lovely and motivating comments! You guys are the best! Do the same for this one if you deem fit! Much love x

Clarke jolts awake, her eyes flying open and her hand grasping the fabric of her t-shirt just above her heart. She lies there breathing hard and staring at the ceiling, all the while trying to recall the events of the night before.   
  
  
_There had been an explosion._ But that's not the last thing she remembered.   
  
  
_Stones. Different coloured coins. Blue, black, pink, yellow and red. And then… The rock walls and ceiling around them had collapsed. But…_  
  
  
Clarke raises her arms in the air and scans them thoroughly with her eyes. Not a single scratch. Had she dreamt the mine collapsing?  
  
  
She drops her arms back to her sides and breathes deeply for a few moments before sitting up and throwing her duvet aside to get out of bed. As her feet hit the cold marble floor, her eyes fall on an object on her bedside table. She stares at it and the red of the stone seems to glow brighter.   
  
  
She swallows hard and shakes her head. Standing up, she grabs her towel from the back of her armchair and goes into her bathroom. She reaches for her toothbrush on the bathroom counter and her hand freezes mid-reach.   
  
  
The red stone is now sitting by her toothbrush holder.   
  
  
Clarke feels her stomach lurch and she drops to her knees by the toilet and empties her stomach. She grabs the bathtub on her left to support herself in standing up but swears loudly when her fingers smash the white ceramic of the rim of the tub as if she had been crumpling paper. She stands up and stumbles backwards, her eyes trained on the smashed edge, trying to comprehend what was happening. She stands there, staring between her hands, the tub and the red stone until her bedside alarm rings loudly, warning her that she had an hour till her classes started.  
  
  
She takes a deep and steadying breath, definitely not her first that morning, avoids taking a shower entirely and throws on a pair of blue jeans and opts to wear a dark pink blouse instead of her previously selected red one. She hurries around the kitchen (carefully) and leaves the house with toast in her hand. She makes it through half the day without any _incidents_ and is about to duck into the library to eat her lunch in a quiet and secluded corner, her normal routine since Wells died, when someone grabs her arm and pulls her to the side of the mostly-empty corridor.   
  
  
"Please tell me I'm not the only one who woke up with super strength." Monty is staring at her nervously, his grip tight on her sleeve. He's dressed in a light blue button-up half-sleeved shirt and black slacks.  
  
  
"You're not," Clarke says, a little bit of relief seeping into her body. "I smashed my bath-tub this morning just by touching it."  
  
  
Monty exhales loudly and lets go of her sleeve, running his hand through his spiky black hair. "Okay, okay. At least I'm not losing my mind. Shall we get lunch together and talk about this? Maybe see if we can find Octavia?" Clarke looks at the library doors and purses her lips in consideration. Her heart beats a little faster at the thought of breaking her lunchtime _ritual_ of eating alone but maybe… maybe it was time.   
  
  
She nods her head and Monty smiles at her and begins recounting a story from his English class that morning as they walk to the canteen. When they sit down in the corner of the bustling space, it takes only seconds before someone drops into the seat beside Clarke.  
  
  
"Guys. We need to talk." Octavia's hair is tied up haphazardly in a bun and her yellow jacket is tied around her waist by the arms. She's dressed in a dark blue blouse and dark jeans and she's gripping something tightly in her fist. She slams it down on the table and moves her hand to reveal the yellow stone. "It's been _following_ me."  
  
  
Clarke nods at this. "I know what you mean. I left it in my bedroom but then when I went to the bathroom, it was sitting on my sink."  
  
  
"Seriously?" Monty asks. He reaches into his pocket and withdraws his blue stone, which he places beside the yellow one. "I haven't tried that yet. Super strength was freaky enough."   
  
  
"I got that too." Octavia nods. "I opened my wardrobe door and pulled the whole thing off its hinges."  
  
  
"And your friend? Is he experiencing the same?" Monty asks.   
  
  
Octavia looks confused for a second before grinning widely and laughing. "Not my friend, my brother. Well, he _is_ my friend too- but- yeah, he's my brother. Bellamy. Yeah, same for him. He leaves an hour before me for teacher training on Mondays but he woke me up to ask me if he had dreamed up last night because neither of us had a scratch on us. You both?"  
  
  
"Same. Not a scratch. And I can't remember how I got home either," Clarke says. "It _feels_ like a dream."  
  
  
"It can't be though. Not with all this physical evidence," Monty waves his hand at the stones. "You have yours?" He asks Clarke and she nods and takes it out of her coat pocket to place on the table. "Any one know who the other girl was?" Octavia and Clarke shake their heads. "She seemed to know a little more than we did when we discovered these stones yesterday, though, right?"   
  
  
Octavia nods. "Definitely. She said ' _I knew it'_ and I don't know about you, but I sure as hell want to know what she meant. Maybe we should all meet after classes today. Back at the mine?"  
  
  
"Definitely," Monty agrees, "Even if the girl doesn't show up, at least we'll have a chance to check out the explosion site- see if we can find anything. Clarke, what do you think?"   
  
  
"I agree," She nods. She's not hugely keen on meeting up with four people she barely knows but she can't help but feel a bit curious. If nothing else, she at least wants to figure out what these stones are and what they've done to the five of them. "Should we meet at 7? Like yesterday? So the girl will know when to find us."  
  
  
"Good plan," Octavia says. "I'll text Bellamy to let him know."   
  
  
***  
  
  
They meet on the cliff near the small forest by the mines. Bellamy, Clarke notes, is dressed in dark jeans and a pale red t-shirt that has a logo on the breast pocket which she recognises belongs to the café on her street. He catches her staring at the logo and when she looks up to meet his eyes, he stares at her in a way she can only describe as challenging.   
  
  
It's 7:04pm when they hear a voice from the cliff opposite from them, about 40 meters across the drop in between.   
  
  
"I was hoping you four would turn up!" They all look across to see the girl from yesterday standing on the edge of the cliff. She's dressed in black jeans and a white t-shirt with an orange jacket. "Come on across."  
  
  
"What?" Octavia cries. "Are you crazy?"  
  
  
"A little bit but- I jumped it half an hour ago from where you're standing. And _I_ have a bum knee." The girl grins wide enough for them to see. "Trust me- if you've got the crazy new athletic ability I have since waking up this morning, you can do it too."   
  
  
They stare at her without saying anything, all of them probably debating whether the girl is telling the truth. Before they can say anything, Octavia shrugs and runs towards the edge of the cliff at full speed before kicking one foot down hard against the ground. Bellamy is screaming his sister's name and running forward but freezes as she propels into the air and lands gracefully on the cliff the other girl is standing on. They high-five each other and Octavia waves at the rest of them enthusiastically.   
  
  
Bellamy shakes his head and takes a deep breath before walking back a few steps and then running forward and kicking of the same way Octavia had. He lands less gracefully, tripping and catching himself on his hands before jumping to his feet.   
  
  
"Clarke, you can't be thinking this is a good idea," Monty is staring at her with wide, nervous eyes.   
  
  
"Oh, what the hell," Clarke mutters before running and jumping off the edge. She can feel the wind in her hair and it's somehow also carrying her whole body across but there's also a strange, foreign energy coursing through her blood that makes her feel a whole different kind of alive. She lands on the opposite ledge but stumbles onto her bum and the girl laughs and comes forward to offer her a hand up. Clarke takes it gratefully and stands up and turns to face Monty, who is standing a few feet away from the edge.   
  
  
"Come on, Monty! You can do this!" Octavia yells across. "We all did it, you can too!"   
  
  
"The quicker you come across, the quicker we can start discussing this!" Clarke adds, knowing that research will prompt Monty into action. It works.   
  
  
"I can't believe I'm-" Monty starts saying as he begins running, "-doing-" He pushes off his feet at the edge, "-this!" He releases a shriek as his body is carried across the fall and he lands on the very edge of their side. "Bloody hell, I am partway terrified and partway thrilled." He grins at them and they all find themselves grinning back at him, Bellamy a bit more reserved than the others. Just as Monty is about to take a step forward, though, he loses balance and flaps his arms around to try and regain it but he can't and they watch in horror as he topples backwards screaming.   
  
  
"Monty!" Octavia and Clarke scream at the same time as they all hurry to the edge and lean over, trying but failing to spot any signs of him.   
  
  
"Fuck, fuck, _fuck!"_ Octavia cries, kneeling down to look further over the edge. "Did we just- did we just kill someone?"   
  
  
Nobody answers as they all stare down into the blackness at the bottom of the fall between the two cliffs. Then suddenly-  
  
  
"WOOHOO!" They all startle as Monty's voice carries over to them from beneath them and the girls release strangled laughs as Bellamy runs a relieved hand through his hair. "You guys _got_ to get down here!"   
  
  
"Count me in," The girl grins before jumping off the ledge. Octavia stands up and turns her back to the fall and winking at Clarke and her brother, she falls backwards with her arms outstretched by her sides. Bellamy's arm shoots out to grab his sister but it's too late and she's gone, shrieking with joy on her way down.   
  
  
"Right. I'm not going down there," Clarke shakes her head. She wanted to know what was happening but this? This was too much. She lived a quiet life in this town and- she had already lost too many people she cared about. _Wells_ didn't die only to see her jump off a cliff because some _magical powers_ would save her life. It was too much. She needed to go home before she hurt herself or worse, got attached to people it would only end badly with.   
  
  
She began backing away slowly.   
  
  
"You're leaving?" Bellamy asks, raising his eyebrows. "Got some princess duties to attend to that are more important?"   
  
  
"Fuck off, Bellamy," She spits out. He looks a bit surprised at being referred to by his name but then scoffs, shaking the surprise off. "I'm leaving because this is all reckless and stupid."   
  
  
"You survived a cave-in last night with no scratches, woke up with super strength and just jumped forty feet across a fall and this is _stupid_? Aren't you at least a little curious as to what the hell is going on with us?" She purses her lips. "As for reckless- you jumped over a bloody cliff without thinking twice so falling into the dip when you _know_ you'll survive is where you draw a line?"  
  
  
"I don't have to explain myself to you," Clarke decides, shaking her head. "I'm leaving."   
  
  
He stares at her for a moment before sighing. "Fine. But before you go- could we borrow your bottle of water?" She looks confused at this and he gestures to the bottle visibly tucked into the side pocket of her backpack. "None of us have any down there and I don't know- we might need some." Clarke finds his request extremely bizarre but for Octavia and Monty's sake, decides to humour him. She reaches behind her and pulls the water bottle out and walks towards him to pass it to him.  
  
  
"Also, I'm sorry," He says, reaching out to take the bottle.  
  
  
"What?" Clarke asks. He moves his hand in the last second and grabs her wrist instead of the bottle and pulls her towards him as he moves backwards, throwing them off the ledge together. She screams as she falls and _keeps falling_ and he's still got his grip on her wrist and it's helping her feel a bit more secure but she's _falling off a cliff_ and it should terrify every cell inside her but she can feel that same foreign energy coursing through her veins and she finds herself _excited._  
  
  
She's not sure how long they fall for but finally, they hit the surface of clear blue water and Clarke kicks her way up from underwater and gasps a large mouthful of air. The others are floating beside her and she keeps her feet moving to stay afloat.  
  
  
"Clarke, stop kicking," Octavia says. Clarke looks beneath them to see that none of the others are kicking their legs and every logical part of her brain is telling her that she can't stay afloat without it. But the others are looking at her expectantly, even Bellamy, and she slowly stops kicking to find that she stays afloat even without it. She releases a disbelieving laugh and the others, except for Bellamy, are all grinning widely at her. He just looks slightly amused.   
  
  
"Guys," Octavia says, "Are we… glowing?" They all look down at themselves to find that she's right, and that the water around each of them are glowing a certain colour. Black around the girl, blue around Monty, yellow around Octavia, pink around Bellamy and red around Clarke. "No friggin' fair, Bell, I wanted pink."   
  
  
Bellamy barks out a laugh and reaches out to ruffle his sister's hair but it's soaked to the roots and she swats his hand away.   
  
  
"Right, so what now?" The girl asks.   
  
  
"Now we swim downwards," Monty says slowly. They look to see that he's staring down at the water with his eyebrows drawn together and Clarke focuses enough to see that there's a light green glow from the bottom of the water body they're in. Monty pushes into the water and they watch him begin to swim downwards.  
  
  
"Bet we can now pull a Harry Potter and swim to the bottom without needing to come up for air," The girl says before curving her body in an arc and swimming after Monty. Octavia takes off after her, leaving Clarke and Bellamy behind. Just before they're about to follow Bellamy's sister, Clarke narrows her eyes at him.  
  
  
"Don't think you aren't going to be hearing from me about that little stunt you pulled up there," She says, nodding upwards in the direction of the cliffs. He looks a little bit embarrassed at this but she doesn't given him time to respond, diving into the water after the others.   
  
  
Raven had been right. They _could_ keep swimming further to the bottom of the lake without needing to come up for air. They also found that they could open their eyes without feeling the burning discomfort in their sockets. As they near the bottom, the glowing becomes less apparent but the bottom of the lake doesn't really feel like a _bottom_. It feels more like athick layer of water. Almost jelly-like. Monty reaches out to press his fingers against the material and their eyes grow wide as his hand slips right through. He looks over his shoulder and smiles at them before pushing forward and they watch as his entire body phases through until he has disappeared. Octavia follows him through, then Bellamy, then the girl and Clarke.   
  
  
As soon as Clarke's head comes out of the other side, she can breathe air again as her face somehow breaks the surface of the water and she pulls her body out slowly after her. As soon as her feet break the surface, however, the whole world seems to tilt 180 degrees and she's suddenly falling rapidly. Her body hits hard rock and she groans as she sits up. The others are sitting and standing around her.  
  
  
"What the hell," Octavia mutters, staring upwards and it's as if they are beneath the lake but a layer of glass holds the water above them. They can see fish swimming on the other side and the faint light of the setting sun shining through.   
  
  
"Okay, we need to seriously reconsider what we're getting ourselves into," Bellamy speaks and his mouth is in a straight line and his jaw is tense.   
  
  
"What are you talking about? This is incredible," Octavia argues, holding her arms out and spinning in a slow circle while staring upwards. "It's magic, Bell."  
  
  
"It's not magic, O. This is some seriously weird shit and we have no idea what any of it means," Bellamy says firmly.  
  
  
" _She_ does," Monty gestures to the girl.  
  
  
"We don't even know her _name!_ " Bellamy says.  
  
  
The girl smirks, "Raven. Raven Reyes. But yeah, I kind of know what this is about. Two years ago, an engineer in the company I worked as an intern for discovered something in this mine that he claimed would change everything we knew about the world. He told me and a couple of others on his team this when it was brand new information but then two weeks later he was in a serious car accident and didn't make it." Clarke is staring at the girl- Raven- with her mouth parted in slight surprise. _Did she mean-?_ "Yes, Clarke, I'm talking about Jake. I'm talking about _your father._ "  
  
  
"I- I heard him talking to my mom about something he had discovered and I remember her arguing with him about it, telling him that nobody could ever know. It was all _this?_ " Clarke asks, feeling the weight on her chest reappear whenever she thought about her father or Wells.   
  
  
"I think it was," Raven says. "After he died, the chief inspector from Ark Police came to talk to our department. He said that we couldn't tell anybody what Jake had told us or we would be in serious trouble. My gut told me something was very wrong but I agreed and stayed on, climbing the ranks and soon I was the company's youngest but finest engineer. Six months ago, though, I stumbled upon a laptop in the company warehouse, broken and stashed away. It was Jake's. I fished it out and rescued its data and there were some madly encrypted files in there which I managed to break through. The reports in it detailed extraterrestrial objects in this mine. He had been studying this area and had come across strange forces and materials and concluded that there was some crazy alien shit going on. My words, not his. His last entry said that he was taking it to the Mayor's office to see if he could get funding to search it further. Maybe even publish a paper on it.The date on that entry was a couple of days before his death."   
  
  
Clarke swallows hard and suddenly feels her head spin. She grabs the wall for support and squeezes her eyes shut and breathes deeply.   
  
  
"Clarke, are you okay?" Octavia asks and she opens her eyes to see them staring at her worriedly.   
  
  
"I know that the Mayor's office was involved with my father's death somehow but- I wasn't sure and- I- I didn't know any of this," Clarke says.  
  
  
"Isn't your mother the Mayor?" Octavia whispers. Clarke doesn't answer and they all fall silent.  
  
  
Finally- "I'm going further in." They stare at Clarke, who looks determined and angry. "I'm going in there," She nods at the gap between two rocky walls a small distance to her right. "My father died for this and I'd be damned if I don't see it through." With that, she pushes off the wall and walks towards the passageway.   
  
  
"Octavia-", She hears Bellamy whisper harshly.  
  
  
"No, Bell, I'm going too. What do we have to lose anyway?" Octavia responds. There's silence and then three sets of footsteps follow Clarke. Then a fourth set.  
  
  
They walk through the gap and down a short dark tunnel before it opens up to a larger circular chamber. In front of them is a metal staircase that leads up to the flat ceiling above and around the staircase are swirling metal structures. Along the wall that encircles the chamber are passages leading outwards. Clarke steps into the chamber and moves to run her fingers across a metal structure and stumbles back when the structure begins buzzing. Raven, Octavia and Monty come to stand near her and she turns around to see where Bellamy is. He meets her eyes and steps into the chamber but the moment he does, a metal partition slides into place behind him, blocking their exit. All the metal structures begin buzzing and the whole chamber suddenly feels alive.   
  
  
"Shit, _shit,_ we need to get out of here!" Octavia cries, grabbing Monty with one hand and Clarke with the other. They run over to the closest passageway but a metal partition slides into place just before they can go through. Raven swears and runs towards the next passage but they watch in horror as three out of the four remaining passageways get blocked. Bellamy sprints to the last one but something speeding out of the passage sends him stumbling backwards.   
  
  
"Stay where you are!" They freeze, eyes wide with fear, as the voice sounds from the object. It's high-pitched and robotic and when the object stops moving, they see that it is a metal box with headlights as eyes and metal tentacles as arms and wheels as legs. Octavia grabs a log she sees lying on the ground behind the _creature_ and sneaks up behind it quietly with the log poised above her head. Before she can move, one of the arms of the creature fly out and grab the log and the other pushes her over onto the floor. Bellamy jumps to his feet and flies at the creature but it's faster and swings its arm out to send him flying across the chamber.   
  
  
"Just stay still, all of you!" It squeaks.  
  
  
"Okay, okay," Clarke says, raising her hands up in the air. "We're still." Monty and Raven stand on Clarke's right and Octavia comes up to stand on her left.   
  
  
The creature seems to _sigh_ and his _hands_ seem to clasp together in front of him. "One, two, three, four- isn't there a fifth?" Four pairs of eyes lift to look behind the creature at Bellamy, who is standing up and walking towards them warily. "Ah yes, sorry, boy." The creature has a long closed mouth out of which his words are mechanically being emitted and it smiles closed-mouthedly. Bellamy comes to stand beside Octavia and the creature smiles again. "Yes, yes! This is perfect! You are the five chosen to be the next Power Rangers."  
  
  
"Power Rangers?" Raven asks. "Does this have something to do with the coloured stones?"  
  
  
"Stones?" The creature looks and sounds confused and then it swaps to thrilled, "Ah, the coins! Yes, yes. Different colours, different kids. Different coloured kids."   
  
  
"I don't understand- what does this all mean?" Monty asks.   
  
  
"Also, what exactly are you?" Octavia asks and Bellamy turns to glare at his sister. She shrugs innocently.   
  
  
The creature seems to chuckle before answering, "I am alpha-5. I am what mortals would call a 'robot'. Queen Lexa built me on planet Polis ten thousand years ago but I was sent to Earth to serve Zordon and help him create the Power Rangers."  
  
  
The five of them are silent and Monty and Raven glance at each other.   
  
  
"If we're the _Power Rangers_ , as you call it- are you saying that you uh- created us?" Raven asks.   
  
  
"Oh, no no! You five were created when a man and woman loved each-"  
  
  
"No! Spare us the details," Monty yells out.  
  
  
"Also, they don't necessarily need to love each other," Octavia says quickly. Bellamy glances at his sister worriedly but she shoots him a dismissive smile and shakes her head.   
  
  
"So if you didn't create us, who did you create? And who is Zordon?" Clarke asks.  
  
  
"I can have all your questions answered by the man himself," Alpha-5 says, tilting his body down into a bow. "Follow me." He turns around and goes to the staircase, which he then begins climbing- his wheels folding in different ways to allow him to climb. He stops and turns halfway up when he realises that none of the others have followed him.   
  
  
"Are you not coming?" He asks.  
  
  
"Are you giving us a choice?" Raven mutters, warily.  
  
  
Alpha-5's mouth shifts into a frown. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave until you have spoken to Zordon."  
  
  
"We have to follow him," Clarke says.   
  
  
"You might want to do this for your father, princess, but we have nothing holding us here," Bellamy says, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
  
"I am not doing this because of my father," Clarke snaps. "I value all our lives enough to see a threat for what it is. We don't have a choice but to follow him."   
  
  
Bellamy stares at her tight-lipped and shoulders tensed and she stares back challengingly.   
  
  
"I don't like this any more than you do," She says, stepping closer to him, "But if we want a shot at getting out of this alive, we have to go there. And this _thing_ doesn't seem like he wants to hurt us. If we're what he says we are, the next Power Rangers, he'd want us to stay alive. We can use that." He looks at her another moment and then flicks his eyes to Octavia, who is nodding, and his shoulders slump a little bit.  
  
  
"Fine," He says, "But we all stay close together."  
  
  
Clarke nods curtly, "Definitely." She and Bellamy step forward first and the others step closer to them and onwards towards the staircase. Alpha-5's mouth turns into a grin and he climbs to the top of the staircase. As soon as the five of them are on the stairway as well, a 4-by-4 square in the ceiling above the top splits open and Alpha-5 climbs through. The five exchange nervous glances before climbing through after him. When they step into the chamber above, they realise that it is less like a chamber and more like the interior of a-  
  
  
"Are we in a spaceship?" Monty whispers. He grabs Raven's arm, who smiles slightly. "We're in a spaceship, aren't we?"  
  
  
"Welcome, Rangers!" The five of them jump and Octavia grabs onto Clarke's arm with one hand and Bellamy's with the other. Monty tightens his grip on Raven. The wall to their left seems to come alive as it shifts from being a plain rock surface to what could be described as a gigantic screen with pixels. A huge section of the pixels are raised in the shape of a face. The voice sounds from the pixelated mouth.   
  
  
"Um- hi?" Octavia says, stepping forward and dragging Clarke and Bellamy with her.   
  
  
"I am Zordon." The face nods. "Thank you, Alpha-5, for bringing them to me."  
  
  
"It was getting quite lonely down here," Alpha-5 frowns and then swaps to a wide grin. "But they are here, Zordon. They are finally here. They each have one of five coins."  
  
  
"Yes, it seems that destiny has chosen the next rangers. Clarke Griffin, the red ranger, the leader. Bellamy Blake, the pink ranger. Octavia Blake, the yellow ranger. Monty Green, the blue ranger. Raven Reyes, the black ranger."  
  
  
"Okay, can somebody _please_ explain what the hell is going on?! How in shits do you know our names?" Octavia bursts out. Raven barks out a laugh at the younger girl's language.  
  
  
"I am connected to you all. But of course, let me explain," Zordon says. "It all started ten thousand years ago on a planet far from this one. Allie Malum was a powerful sorceress who strove for intergalactic domination. She and I warred across many planets for two thousand years until she began to serve Lord Zedd, the galactic overlord, and he assigned her with conquering the planet of Earth. As she and her henchmen set up their base on the Earth's moon, I came to Earth and discovered five Power Coins. In a final battle, I defeated Allie and banished her and her people into a space dumpster for eternity but before she went, she used her powers to trap me in a time warp where I could only exist and communicate to the outside world through this energy tube." All their eyes swept across the large pixelated wall.   
  
  
"I knew, however, that one day Allie might return. In preparation, I created this place- we call it the Command Center- and I was helped by Alpha-5, who was sent to Earth by Queen Lexa of Polis. Together we used the Command Center and these very pods-" Alpha-5 gestured with an arm towards a circle of five big glowing-white circular blocks, "-to create the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.   
  
  
"One thousand years ago, Allie returned to Earth in a weaker form than before, but the Power Rangers we had prepared were ready and battled her. Rita was still strong, however, and fought well. Four of the Rangers perished at her hand but the Red Ranger, the leader of the five, was stronger. Before they came face-to-face, he buried the five Power Coins in hopes that they would be found when required. He defeated Allie but in doing so, spent every last bit of his life force and he, too, perished."  
  
  
"So… if _we_ found the Power Coins does that mean some evil alien force is back?" Raven asks.   
  
  
"Yes," Zordon nods gravely. "I believe that Allie has returned and will attempt to obliterate the planet from the heart of Ark in eleven days."  
  
  
"Does this lady never _die_?" Octavia asks.  
  
  
"I believe that she separated her soul into a hundred pieces scattered across the universe. Which is why every time she is defeated, other parts of her soul come together to resurrect her. This, though, might be her last chance."   
  
  
"That is some straight-up batshit crazy Voldemort stuff going on," Octavia says.   
  
  
"I am afraid I do not know what you mean," Zordon frowns.  
  
  
"Never mind," Bellamy shakes his head. "So if this- Allie is back and we have the Power Coins, does that mean we need to fight her? In eleven days?"  
  
  
"Yes," Zordon says. "You five are destined to be the Power Rangers. You are the only hope to save the Earth from being obliterated."  
  
  
The five stare at Zordon's pixelated face in silence until Monty whispers, "Run on 3?" Without counting he spins on his heel and runs in the direction of the stairway but the panel slides shut just as he reaches it. He freezes and then turns around with a sheepish expression.   
  
  
"What if we don't _want_ to be these- these _Power Rangers_?" Clarke asks.   
  
  
"I'm afraid you must at least try," Zordon says. "The Power Coins do not just fall into the hands of _anybody._ They choose those who already have the spirit of the Rangers inside you. When harnessed, your bodies will morph into the skin of the Rangers."  
  
  
"Are you saying we were _already_ Rangers?" Raven asks.   
  
  
"Yes. And when you all came into contact with the coins, your latent powers were unlocked. But you can be so much more than just the strength and speed you have experienced so far."  
  
  
"That's really great and all," Clarke says, "but we have no idea how to _save_ the world, Zordon. Especially not as a team. We barely know each other."  
  
  
"Then you must learn," Zordon says. "Alpha-5 will train you."  
  
  
"Do we have a choice?" Clarke asks.   
  
  
"The fate of the world rests in your hands, Clarke. Will you just turn your back on it?" Zordon asks. "Please step onto the pods. Let me show you the light energy that you are all connected to."   
  
  
The five look between each other, unsure of how to proceed. Finally, Clarke and Bellamy lock eyes and she nods slightly. He nods back and they walk to opposite pods and step onto the stones in front of them. Octavia goes to stand between them. Raven stands on Bellamy's left and Monty between Raven and Clarke. As soon as they are all standing in their positions, the stones beneath their feet surge to life, the white glow growing stronger. At the centre of the circle between them all bursts into existence a ball of colour.   
  
  
"The first time you morph into your skins as a team, it will be on these pods. The light energy between you all will aid your transitions," Zordon says and the five stare transfixed at the ball of light.  
  
  
Suddenly, Clarke feels that same foreign energy from her jump and her fall enter through her feet. They surge up her legs and she feels the energy spreading through her blood. One look at the others and she knows they are experiencing the same. The energy courses upwards, through her bones and blood and when it enters her stomach, she takes a deep gasping breath, feeling like her body is shifting and changing. Suddenly, it's gone.  
  
  
The five stumble and Octavia's arm shoots out to grab Bellamy's.  
  
  
"Why didn't it work? Why didn't we morph?" Monty asks.  
  
  
"Because, as Clarke said, you know nothing of each other," Zordon says. "Being the Power Rangers means having a connection between you like no other mortals have. You five, hereafter, are going to be tied to each other forever. In order to unlock the rest of your powers and morph, you need to know the ones you will be working with."  
  
  
"He just said 'forever', didn't he?" Octavia squeaks. Clarke nods.   
  
  
"Return tomorrow and Alpha-5 will begin your training. Since you only have eleven days, you will need to work quickly and to the best of your abilities."  
  
  
"We have classes from 9am," Octavia says.  
  
  
"Then arrive at the crack of dawn," Zordon says.  
  
  
"Right. Okay. We'll do that. Can we leave now?" Bellamy asks. Zordon nods and the door leading to the stairway slides open once again. The five step off their pods and head towards their exit together.  
  
  
"We aren't coming back, are we?" Monty whispers. Bellamy shakes his head with a serious expression on his face and Clarke finds herself in agreement.   
  
  
"Clarke," She stops and turns towards Zordon, who said her name. "A word, please." She glances at the others, who look at her worriedly.  
  
  
"You guys go ahead." They nod and head down the stairs while Clarke walks back towards the pods and stands facing Zordon.  
  
  
"You have a fighting spirit, Clarke," He says.  
  
  
"And?" She responds.  
  
  
"And I am hoping you will use it to be a Ranger."  
  
  
"I'll see how it holds up in training."  
  
  
"You would if you were actually planning on returning."   
  
  
Clarke wonders for a second if Zordon can also read their minds.   
  
  
"You are all very easy to read," Zordon says. "And I remember the previous rangers. They, much like you, were not sure that this is what they wanted in their lives."  
  
  
"Why force them then?" Clarke asks.   
  
  
"Because it is our only choice. It is the planet's last hope in survival," Zordon says. "I would not ask five twenty-something year olds to risk their lives if we had another choice."  
  
  
"Octavia is only nineteen," Clarke corrects. "Her life is just starting."  
  
  
"And it will end in eleven days regardless," Zordon says. "Clarke, Allie  _will_ destroy Earth if there aren't a set of Rangers to stop her."  
  
  
"Why are you telling me this?" Clarke asks.  
  
  
"Because you are the Red Ranger. The one who is given the red Power Coin is always the team's head, the team's leader."   
  
  
"I wasn't _given_ anything, Zordon. I just happened to pick up the red stone. It could've been Octavia."  
  
  
"But it wasn't. It was you. Because you do not choose the coins, the coins choose you. I am asking you now, as the leader of the Rangers, to please speak to your team-"  
  
  
"They aren't my team."  
  
  
"They can be. They will be. You must speak with them, for the sake of the planet."  
  
  
Clarke swallows hard and runs a hand through her hair tiredly. "Okay. I'll try." Zordon nods and she nods back, turning and leaving. When she enters the chamber just beneath the bottom of the lake they swam through, she finds the others waiting for her.   
  
  
" _So,_ " She starts, "Who wants to save the planet?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've been trying to power through my other fic, Throw Me To The Wolves, and trying to get that done first! Do check it out if you haven't already ;) Shout out to Meowface who commented with a certain suggestion in this chapter ;D Thank you all so so much for reading and extra big hug to those who hit bookmark/kudos and took the time out to comment, you all are the absolute best. If you have a moment after reading this chapter and enjoyed it enough, do hit kudos/bookmark or comment! xx
> 
>    
> TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of suicide + mental illnesses at the end of this chapter

* * *

 

They're back on the cliff when they have the discussion.  
  
  
"I think we should do it," Clarke says.  
  
  
"I completely disagree," Bellamy replies firmly. "We don't owe them _anything_."  
  
  
"That may be true but we are the only hope left for humanity to survive," Clarke says.  
  
  
"Do you seriously believe that? Do you really believe what this Zordon guy- _thing_ , whatever he is- said? That there's a bloody intergalactic super villain who wants to destroy the planet and somehow _we_ are the only five people on this _planet_ who can stop her?" Bellamy says, throwing his arms in the air.  
  
  
"Bell, we were in a mining cave-in and woke up with no scratches," Octavia reasons patiently. "I pulled my wardrobe door right off its hinges with no effort and you broke our living room coffee table in half just by resting your feet on it."  
  
  
"And if that wasn't enough," Raven pitches in, "We jumped forty feet between two cliffs-"  
  
  
" _And_ survived a hundred meter drop," Monty says. "I'm a scientist and I'm the least inclined to believe _magical_ things like this. But we are the walking-talking evidence, Bellamy. And Alpha-5 and Zordon speaking to us through a _wall_ and that whole Command Center spaceship place? That's evidence."  
  
  
Bellamy's silent for a few seconds before saying, "Even if what Zordon said was true, why us? Why five random strangers? Why _kids_?"  
  
  
Nobody knows how to answer. Clarke says, "I don't know. But we can't just do nothing."  
  
  
"We would be risking our _lives_." Bellamy turns to Octavia and says, "Lives that I have spent the past six years building for us. I spent every second of every minute that I had in making sure that you and I survived. Do you really want to throw that away, O?"  
  
  
"That's not fair, Bell. I know that you spent your entire childhood taking care of me but it's different now. I can make my own decisions," Octavia says.  
  
  
"Not if it means that you're going to get yourself killed," Bellamy says firmly.  
  
  
"Even if she doesn't do this, she's going to die anyway," Clarke says. She looks between them all. "We all are. In eleven days Allie is going to be here and she is going to destroy _everything_. Everybody that we know and love are going to be dead. Including ourselves. But if we do this- if we at least  _try_ \- we have a shot at saving every body. I want to believe that there's a reason the five of us were in that mine together when we discovered the Power Coins. I want to believe that there's a reason we were chosen for this. I'm going to be here tomorrow morning at six. I'm hoping you will be too." Octavia gives her a small nod and Raven shoots her a small smile, which she feels slightly encouraged by. "Monty?" She turns to the boy, "I'll give you a ride home." He smiles thankfully at her and waving goodbye at the group, they walk together to her red van.  
  
  
+++  
  
  
The next morning, Clarke is up at quarter past five. She can feel the anxiety building in her stomach and chest as she showers quickly before putting on a pair of yoga leggings and a comfortable t-shirt. She packs a backpack with a towel and a plastic water bottle (noting that she had lost her regular one yesterday during the fall). Then she peeks into her mother's room to see that Abby's bed is empty and made, meaning she was probably in her office already. She sighs and makes herself a quick breakfast before sliding into her car.   
  
  
On the way to the mines, she makes a quick decision at twenty minutes to six and takes a detour to pull up by Monty's house. Twenty minutes is how long it would have taken Monty to walk to the mines. She sits there, eyes trained on Monty's front door and was mid-sigh and about to drive away after three slow minutes had passed when the front door flies open.   
  
  
"Science experiment, Ma!" He was shouting over his shoulder. He stumbles to a stop after sprinting down the porch steps when he spots Clarke across the street. She gives him a smile and a wave, relief washing over her, and he grins widely in return.   
  
  
They drive in silence to the mines and park behind an abandoned rusty tractor before heading over to the cliffs. Just as the cliff enters their view, they see that somebody is already seated on a boulder, stretching.   
  
  
Raven looks up as they approach her and grins. "I was beginning to think I would be the only one hand-to-hand combatting with a ten-thousand year old robot. Thought you were chickening out after your big speech, Red."   
  
  
Clarke breathes out a chuckle, ducking her head. "Nah, I took a detour to pick up Monty."  
  
  
"She's the best team-leader ever," Monty winks at Clarke.   
  
  
"Think the Blakes're gonna join us?" Raven asks, turning serious.  
  
  
"Hopefully. We can't morph without them," Monty replies.   
  
  
"But we can still fight," Clarke says firmly.   
  
  
"Jeez, that little faith in us?" Octavia's voice carries to them just as she appears. Bellamy is behind her, unsmiling. "Let's do this."   
  
  
She runs ahead and Raven catches up in time to jump off the cliff with her. Monty follows after them.   
  
  
"I see you decided to join the team," Clarke comments, walking to the ledge alongside Bellamy.  
  
  
"Octavia convinced me it was the best choice," Bellamy says, nodding curtly.   
  
  
"Yet you don't exactly look like you want to be here," She says.  
  
  
"What do you want me to say, Clarke?" He asks, turning to her looking frustrated.   
  
  
"I want you to say that you're with us," Clarke says. "This can't just be about Octavia. It's about you too. If your head and heart aren't in the game, we may never be able to morph."  
  
  
He stares at her for a moment before looking away, his jaw tense.   
  
  
"Just promise you'll try," She says softly.   
  
  
He scoffs before saying, "I don't have to promise _you_ anything, princess." With that, he pushes past her and steps off the cliff. She sighs heavily, not sure why she even bothered, and follows the others into the lake.  
  
  
+++  
  
  
For the next two hours, they train hard against Alpha-5 and each other. For the most part, Clarke is paired up with Octavia, Raven is paired up with Bellamy and Monty is paired up with their robot trainer, which all of them keep trying to wrap their head around their entire time. They leave the mine with bruises and cuts at half past eight and Clarke drives Monty to his house, Raven speeds off on a scooter and Bellamy and Octavia hop into their truck. When lunch rolls around at quarter past one, Clarke is surprised to find Octavia and Monty waiting outside her class chatting. They grin at her widely before steering her in the direction of the canteen, where they spend the next hour laughing and chatting.  
  
  
Clarke learns that Monty is twenty and in his final year of university, like Clarke, a single child and lives with both his parents. They are used to Monty spending hours in the basement with science experiments and have stopped worrying about him sneaking out of the house ever since his best friend Jasper and he regularly met up at odd hours during the day to test theories and research. He tells them that he was in detention because he blew up a part of the chemistry lab a week ago.   
  
  
She learns that Octavia is in her second year at university and lives with only her brother. Their mother died when she was thirteen and Bellamy was eighteen and after a fight with the authorities and lots of paperwork, he received custody of her. He works two jobs in the week and one during the weekend while undergoing teacher training for the university thanks to the History degree he received a year ago. Octavia quietly admits that she thinks his life ended the day she was born. She never mentions her father. When Monty changes topic carefully and asks her why she got detention, she smiles sheepishly and says that she punched a boy on their rival soccer team for spitting dirty and shaming insults at her and her teammate. Clarke grins at this and Monty fist-bumps her, which has Octavia smiling widely again.  
  
  
They ask her why she's in detention and Clarke hesitates before saying, "I vandalised student property" and then falls silent, picking at her food and providing no further explanation. Her new friends accept that and they start chatting about where Monty learnt about the legend of the stones from.   
  
  
The next morning there is an article on the front page of Ark Times saying that a mysterious unnamed lady had attacked a gold shop the previous night, resulting in an explosion and four deaths. The grainy picture captured from a CCTV camera showed a lady in a red and golden gown holding a golden staff.  
  
  
For the next four days, the five of them train every day from 6am till 8:30am and then from 5pm till 7pm, growing quicker and stronger every day. Alpha-5 introduces them to putties in the shape and form of what he says Allie's minions will look and fight like. Learning these are more difficult but once they begin to get the hang of it ("Grab and flip them on their backs to destroy them quickly") the training goes faster. As they are sitting soaked in sweat underneath the lake and taking a much-needed break while assessing their injuries (which heal every night), Alpha rolls up to them with a grin.  
  
  
"Zordon has allowed me to show you something special to motivate you," He says. They follow him to the chamber with the staircase. The first corridor to the left leads to where they train (they call it 'the Pit'). Alpha swerves to the right this time and goes through the second corridor from the end and they follow him through to a chamber larger than any of the others they have seen so far. In it sit five large mechanical robots in the shape of dinosaurs in the five Ranger colours. They can see that at the head of each machine is a small cockpit.   
  
  
"What the hell are those?" Raven asks slowly.   
  
  
"We call them Zords," Alpha responds. "Once you morph, they will become part of you and you will be able to control them."  
  
  
"Can we operate them without morphing?" Raven responds.  
  
  
Alpha frowns. "It is not recommended. Zordon asked me to show them to you so that you feel more inspired to train."  
  
  
"I'd say that's a pretty good motivation," Monty comments, marvelling at the structures.  
  
  
"Back to training?" Clarke asks. The others nod and they head back towards the Pit. As soon as they're pairing up, Bellamy speaks.  
  
  
"Where's Raven?"   
  
  
They look around the training ground but she is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly they hear a loud explosion and then the sounds of something large crashing through the main circular chamber. The wall around the doorway of the passage leading to the Pit begin vibrating and suddenly blows into pieces as a large black machine bursts through it. The five of them duck and shield their heads with their arms as pieces of rock fly around and hit them. Finally, the black Zord stops inches away from them. They straighten slowly as the glass around the cockpit lifts open and Raven stands up from her seat, a bloody gash at her hairline.  
  
  
"What the _fuck,_ Raven!" Bellamy yells as she climbs off the Zord and onto the ground near them.   
  
  
"I got curious," She shrugs, though looks a bit embarrassed.   
  
  
"You could have gotten us all killed!" He snaps, taking a step closer to her. She scoffs and turns on her heel to walk out of the large hole in the wall and into the main chamber. Bellamy stalks after her and after sharing a nervous glance, the remaining three and Alpha run after them. They follow Raven up the stairs, which she had managed to avoid hitting, and into the Command Center. Once they are all inside, Zordon comes alive.   
  
  
"Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Bellamy spits, grabbing Raven's elbow and spinning her around. "What were you _thinking_?"   
  
  
"I was thinking that these were some cool machines and I wanted to try one out," Raven answers cooly.   
  
  
"You want to make a decision like that- you go through us," Bellamy shoots back.  
  
  
Raven barks out a laugh, "I'm sorry, did Clarke die and make you leader?" Clarke sighs heavily and presses her fingers against her temple, feeling a headache coming along.  
  
  
"Raven, you shouldn't have tried to operate the Zord," She says quietly but firmly.   
  
  
Bellamy throws Raven a satisfied smirk, "The princess has spoken. You almost got us killed, Raven. That is _not_ team behaviour."  
  
  
"Really? Real-fucking-ly?" She spits back and now her shoulders are tense too and there's anger in her eyes. " _Now_ you want to be a team player? Where did that come from? Last I checked, you were the least on board with being part of this."  
  
  
"We have been training together for five days- living and breathing together-"  
  
  
"And where has that got us?! We are no closer to morphing than we were the first day we came down here. I am _tired_ of doing this."  
  
  
"We don't have a _choice_ so you better get your fucking-"  
  
  
"Oh fuck _off_ , Bellamy-"  
  
  
"You don't get to just-"   
  
  
"No, seriously, you have no right-"   
  
  
"Enough!" Monty screams, pushing them apart with a hand each on their shoulders. The entire chamber falls dead silent. When he notices that they're staring at him wide-eyed and all traces of anger have left Raven and Bellamy's faces, he asks, "What?"  
  
  
"Monty…" Clarke says, "You morphed." Monty's head snaps downwards to look at his body and sure enough, there is a new layer of blue and silver metallic armour over his clothes. He moves his hands off Raven and Bellamy to turn his hands in front of his face to stare at his new skin. Just as quickly as it came, though, it disappears until he is left with his own skin and black tracksuit bottoms and a white t-shirt.   
  
  
"How did it feel?" Octavia asks in a whisper, almost as if they had just witnessed a miracle. They pretty much had, Clarke thinks.   
  
  
"I didn't even feel it," Monty replies, staring at his palms in awe, "It was like nothing changed- it- it didn't feel different. It felt like it was part of me. A second skin."  
  
  
"How did you do it?" Clarke asks. "What were you thinking when you changed?"  
  
  
"I just wanted Bellamy and Raven to stop fighting," Monty says honestly, looking between the two in question. "I was thinking about how we needed to be a team."  
  
  
"Should we try to morph on the pods?" Raven asks. Clarke nods and they hurry over to their pods. The ball of light energy appears but they frown when they realise it is much weaker than before.   
  
  
"Just think about each other," Clarke says. They all concentrate hard, teeth grit and fists clenched, running each other's faces through their own minds. Nothing happens.   
  
  
"Why isn't it working?" Octavia asks.  
  
  
"Because the Power Coins chose incorrectly." They startle at Zordon's loud voice. They turn towards him. "This will never work. You will never morph. None of you are connected the way Rangers are supposed to be. And if you haven't managed to connect over the past five days, you won't do it in time to face Allie. Get out, all of you."  
  
  
"What?" Clarke splutters. "Are you serious?"  
  
  
"Master Zordon, maybe we should-"  
  
  
"No," Zordon's voice booms. "It is over. Leave."  
  
  
"You have to give us a chance-" Bellamy starts.  
  
  
"I did!" He replies. "And you failed. Now leave." Octavia, Monty and Raven turn to Clarke with questioning faces and she glances at Bellamy. He looks angry and frustrated but they both know that there's nothing more they can do there. He nods slightly and she nods dejectedly back.  
  
  
"Let's go," Clarke says softly. They step off their pods and Octavia waves sadly at Alpha as they take the stairs down to the main chamber. "Wait, I'm going to go ask Zordon what we should do with the Power Coins. You guys go ahead." They nod and she climbs back up the stairs. When she's near the top, she pauses as Zordon and Alpha's voices carry to her.  
  
  
"Without the Rangers morphing, the Morphing Grid will never open, Master Zordon," Alpha-5 says. "And if the Morphing Grid never opens, you will never be able to restore yourself to a physical body. You will be stuck in that form forever."  
  
  
"I'm afraid so, Alpha. But these _children_ will never be the Rangers- they can barely stand each other. Even if I did escape the Grid once they morphed, I doubt I would have been able to lead them into victory against Allie," Zordon responds.   
  
  
Clarke doesn't wait around to listen to the rest. She feels anger and disappointment course through her as she walks quickly out of the chamber and swims up to the surface of the lake. She kicks off a jutting out rock near the surface of the water and jumps to the top of the cliff, where the others are standing waiting.   
  
  
"What did he say?" Bellamy asks.  
  
  
"I didn't stick around to ask," Clarke responds before explaining to them what she had overheard. "He was using us for his own benefit."  
  
  
"Was all that stuff about Allie not real then?" Octavia asks, looking betrayed. Clarke is frustrated to find that she feels a little betrayed as well.  
  
  
"No, I think that was real. Her turning up in Ark is evidence of that. Zordon said that once he escaped the Grid, _he_ would have lead the team against Allie."  
  
  
"Are you kidding?" Raven says. "We aren't listening to anyone but our _true_ leader." She smiles at Clarke and Clarke breathes out a laugh when Octavia loudly whoops.   
  
  
"Amen to that," The black-haired girl grins. "Clarke Griffin is our only leader. The _real_ Red Ranger."   
  
  
"Unfortunately that's all over now," Clarke says sadly. "It was good knowing you guys though."  
  
  
"Seriously?" Raven says. "The night is still young. Who cares if we're never becoming Power Rangers, we can still hang out, right?"  
  
  
"I like the sound of that," Octavia says. "Campfire night?"  
  
  
"I don't have anywhere to be," Raven says, shrugging.  
  
  
"Doubt my parents are expecting me home," Monty smiles.  
  
  
"I don't have parents to expect me home," Octavia says. They look at Clarke.  
  
  
"I don't think my Mum will even realise I'm gone," She says softly and then smiles at them. Bellamy is still silent and Raven raises her eyebrow at him. "What?" Clarke says, feeling her lips curl into a smirk, "You got somewhere better to be, _princess_?"  
  
  
The corner of Bellamy's mouth quirks upwards and he breathes out a laugh before nodding, "Why the hell not."  
  
  
They spend the next fifteen minutes building a fire in the clearing Clarke had found Octavia and Bellamy in on her first night in the mine. They sit around comfortably with beers and ciders that Bellamy has produced from the back of his truck.   
  
  
"Let's go around the circle and tell our stories," Monty suggests.  
  
  
"Let's not," Bellamy shakes his head.  
  
  
"All in favour of ignoring the older Blake," Raven says, raising her hand. Monty's hand shoots up and Octavia laughs and raises her hand.   
  
  
"Don't you dare, princess," Bellamy says to Clarke in a serious way, but the corner of his mouth is quirked upwards and she sticks her tongue out at him and raises her hand, smiling triumphantly at him.   
  
  
"I'll go first," Raven volunteers, "since, you know, I've never really had many friends before." She rolls her eyes as if it's no big deal but the words settle heavily in all their hearts, resonating within themselves  "So I'm twenty-three. I started University when I was seventeen, got in really early because frankly I'm a bloody genius. I was in my second year there, just nineteen, when my mum got real ill. She's an alcoholic and one of her many _boyfriends_ at that time was giving her a steady supply of drugs. She OD'ed and got admitted into the hospital and survived. But everything was pretty much downhill after that. She lost her job and didn't get one again. So we ran out of cash real quick. Around the same time I found out that my long-term boyfriend, Finn, was cheating on me for a couple of months. I broke up with him, had to drop out of university before I could finish and take care of my mom, who never really recovered. I got a job with Ark Tech as an intern for Jake's team because I was good at what I did. But six months ago after I found out about Jake's research, I quit. They were going to ask me to leave, anyway, because there wasn't very many places they could send me without a finished degree. I work at a garage now during the weekend and a restaurant during the week to cover bills." She takes a swig out of her beer. "So yeah, that's me."  
  
  
"That sucks," Octavia says, finally breaking the silence. Raven laughs and nods her head. "Bell and I actually lived in Station City next door until two years ago. We've been alone since I was thirteen and he was eighteen when my mom died. She had cancer. Bell fought for me and finally got custody. He worked four jobs to help me finish school and then finally had a chance to join University when he was twenty-one and I was almost done with school. We could only really afford for one of us to study but we made it work. Well, he made it work." She smiles sadly at her brother, who reaches out and squeezes her hand before slumping back into his seat, bringing his cider to his lips. "Then in his last year, he applied for a scholarship for me at Ark University and when I got it, we transferred here. He finished his final year and I started my first. He graduated last year and started his teacher training and I'm in my second year. I've got a job in the weekends as a barista at the café he works at during the week and- yeah, I guess we just- we make it work." She shrugs. "We don't really have any family or friends, we could never really afford to be social until recently."   
  
  
"That sucks," Raven says and Octavia laughs and raises her bottle in response. "I'm guessing your stories come as a package deal then," She directs at Bellamy who nods his head.  
  
  
"Pretty much. It's been tough but-" He glances at Octavia, "I don't think I've ever regretted getting custody. Who needs friends when you have the world's best sister." Octavia grins at him and this time it's her who reaches out squeezes her brother's hand tightly.   
  
  
"That's really lame but… I love you, big brother."  
  
  
"Love you too, O," He smiles softly.  
  
  
"Aw, that's disgustingly cute," Raven says rolling her eyes but she's got a warm smile on her face as well which takes the bite out of her words. "Who's up?"  
  
  
"I can go," Monty says when it's clear Clarke isn't going to speak. "I'm twenty, in my final year of Ark-U. I've always been kind of a lonely kid except for Jasper, who I've known since I was a kid. We grew up together and our parents kind of got used to the fact that both of us were of the mad-scientist kind. He left, though, last month to Port Luna down on the coast and it's just been really lonely since. We never really got along with anyone else and I don't think we tried much either. So when he left, I didn't have anyone to turn to. My parents are great but they're very- uh- Asian in the sense that they're very conservative. They never approved of my past relationships."  
  
  
"Girlfriend problems?" Octavia asks.   
  
  
"Yeah, _girlfriend_ problems," Monty says, looking down at his beer bottle.  
  
  
Octavia's silent, glancing at the others before asking, "Boyfriend problems?"  
  
  
Monty nods his head, "More appropriate, yeah. It's weird admitting it out loud- Jasper and my parents are the only ones who know."  
  
  
"Welcome to Team Gay," Clarke says softly. Their eyes all snap up to look at her. She smiles weakly. "I'm bi."  
  
  
"Fucking _yes!_ So am I," Clarke is surprised when Raven reaches over to high-5 her. They grin at each other before turning towards Monty, who is smiling widely in return.  
  
  
"Can we be honorary members?" Octavia asks, pouting. "I hate not being part of things."  
  
  
"Fuck, no," Raven says. "Sorry, O, but this one's for strictly gays. You could attend the meetings though, to pitch in a few straight-people arguments." They all laugh and Octavia sighs and says " _fine"_  before they all settle into their seats again. "So," Raven prompts, "What's your story, Red?"  
  
  
Clarke doesn't know if she can do this and she can feel the anxiety building as everyone stares at her expectantly but she knows that a part of her can't be silent anymore, that these people are her _friends_ and so she says, "My dad died two years ago." She isn't sure why she starts there but she powers through, "He was my best friend, I know that sounds silly, but he was. My other best friend was Wells Jaha." Octavia's eyes widen slightly, probably recognising the name. "He died two months ago. It's a long story but- he was bullied a lot by the kids in our classes. I was, too, but- my mom was never the type of person to go crazy on power and privilege and enforce rules that favoured only her people. Wells' dad was though. So Wells received the brunt of the hate for his father's decisions. He jumped off the University bell tower." She feels tears well up in her eyes and she grits her teeth together and turns her head to the side as her throat begins to close up. "They didn't do anything to the people who drove him to it. Said he was suffering mental health problems and it came from a place of depression, not bullying. Of course he was mentally ill, fuck so was I- so _am_ I," Clarke finds that once she has started, she doesn't really know how to stop and the tears are falling down her cheeks now. "But he didn't just jump because of his depression- I _know_ he didn't. So when nothing happened in the weeks following his death, I took matters into my own hands last week. I sneaked into Ark-U on a sunday night with a dozen cans of spray paint and I wrote on the walls of the bell-tower and across his bullys' lockers and their sports changing rooms and their classrooms."  
  
  
" _Wells Jaha didn't jump, he was pushed_ ," Monty recites softly, recalling the words he had seen across the walls in his English class.   
  
  
Clarke nods shortly, swiping at her eyes. "I didn't have any other friends and my mom was too busy to worry about me in the weeks that followed. So it was just me. Until this whole thing," She gestures in the direction of the cliffs. "Suddenly Monty wanted to eat lunch with me on one day and on the other Octavia was waiting with him outside my class to walk me to the canteen and I was just _looking forward_ to something. I was looking forward to you guys. It felt nice," She admits looking down at her lap. She hears shoes scruffing against the ground and when she looks up, Octavia has crossed over to her and is throwing her arms around her, hugging her tightly. Clarke breathes out a laugh, tears slipping down her cheeks, and she wraps her arms around the other girl tightly. When they break apart, she flops down right next to Clarke.  
  
  
"Even if we aren't the Power Rangers, we're still a team. Nobody can take that away from us," Raven says, raising her bottle in the air.  
  
  
"Except, I mean, Allie when she blows the Earth into smithereens," Octavia says as they raise their bottles in the air. Raven reaches out and punches the girl lightly in the arm and Octavia grins cheekily. They spend the rest of the evening talking and laughing together and when they split up close to ten, they decide to meet in the café Octavia works at the next afternoon for lunch. When Clarke flops into bed later that night, she falls asleep with a smile on her face for the first time in 59 days.   
  
  
+++ 


End file.
